Here in the United States it's a red-letter day, and we have an annual tradition that we're keeping alive here at the Underground Bunker. It's Independence Day, and as in past years, we celebrate with the stories of Scientologists who have dissolved the bands that kept them in a totalitarian organization and declared their independence of it. We're privileged this year to start off today's celebration with an account by former Sea Org member Peter McMahon. We hope other former church members will include their own stories of freedom in the comments section — even if you told those stories in past years. We want to hear them again! And here's Peter....

Freedom Day. That's what my wife and I called the day we left the Sea Org and Scientology.